AUSTRALIA: After Afghanistan won the toss and opted to bat first, Sri Lankan bowlers didn’t allow Afghan batsmen to settle, picking up wickets at regular intervals. Afghanistan bowlers bowled their hearts out, but Dhanajaya’s fifty took the game away from them.
Afghanistan Innings
After a quiet first opening over, Afghanistan openers Rahmanullah Gurbaz (28 off 24 balls) and Usman Ghani (27 off 27 balls) took on the Sri Lankan bowlers. The duo put together a quickfire 42-run partnership for the first wicket in six overs.
Lahiru Kumara (30/2) struck immediately after the powerplay and dismissed the dangerous-looking Gurbaz, who missed the swing of the fuller-length delivery while attempting a big hit.
Usman Ghani and Ibrahim Zadran (22 off 18 balls) kept the scoreboard ticking with aggressive running between the wickets. With the extra fielders outside the 30-yard circle, the Afghanistan batsmen found it difficult to hit boundaries.
The only bit of hit after the powerplay came in the ninth over when Ghani smashed Lahiru Kumara for a six over long-off. After the first ten overs, Afghanistan was 68/1.
Wanindu Hasaranga (13/3) dismissed Usman Ghani in the eleventh over with a googly. Ghani fancied a pull shot but misjudged the bounce of the delivery and the resulting top edge was caught by Shanaka at deep midwicket.
Ibrahim Zadran hit a boundary and a six in the twelfth over by Maheesh Theekshana (33/0), which yielded seventeen runs. Lahiru Kumara struck again in the next over, having Ibrahim Zadran caught at mid-off.
Najibullah Zadran (18 off 16 balls) was caught at long-off by Hasaranga off the bowling of Dhananjaya de Silva (9/1) in the sixteenth over.
Gulbadin Naib (12 off 14 balls) injured his elbow while trying to avoid getting run out. Gulbadin wanted a second run, but Nabi wasn’t keen as it was risky.
Gulbadin slipped on his way back to the crease and tried to roll back into the crease, but the keeper had enough time to whip off the bails. Kasun Rajitha (31/1) dismissed Mohammad Nabi (13 off 8 balls) in the penultimate over.
Wanindu Hasaranga struck twice in the last over, castingling Rashid Khan (9 off 8 balls) and getting Mujeeb Ur Rahman (1 off 2 balls) stumped out while giving away a meagre three runs to end the Afghanistan innings at 144/8.
Sri Lankan Innings
Sri Lanka was jolted early in the innings when Mujeeb Ur Rahman (24/2) disturbed the stumps of Pathum Nissanka (10 off 10 balls) in the second over. Fazalhaq Farooqi (22/0) followed up with a maiden over, putting Sri Lanka on the backfoot.
Kusal Mendis (25 off 27 balls), the leading run-scorer for the island nation in this edition of the T20 World Cup, hit Fareed Ahmad (25/0) for successive boundaries in the fifth over to ease some pressure. Sri Lanka reached 28/1 in the powerplay overs.
Kusal Mendis took on Fareed again in his next over, hitting two boundaries and a six, as sixteen runs came from the seventh over. Rashid Khan (31/2) dismissed Mendis in the next over to peg back Sri Lanka.
The Afghanistan bowlers bowled tight lines, stifling the run rate as Sri Lanka was 63/2 at the halfway stage of the innings.
Dhananjaya de Silva switched gears and went after the bowlers, hitting sixes in successive overs of Rashid Khan and Mohammad Nabi (16/0), as fourteen and twelve runs came off their overs, respectively.
The 54-run partnership for the third wicket was broken by Rashid Khan in the fourteenth over. Asalanka (19 off 18 balls) went for a lofted hit over long-on but got the elevation wrong as Azmatullah latched on to the overhead catch.
The new man in, Bhanuka Rajapaksa (18 off 14 balls), was on the offensive straightaway, hitting successive boundaries off Gulbaddin Naib (12/0).
Rajapaksa survived an LBW scare in the sixteenth over when he was struck on the thigh pad while attempting a slog sweep off Rashid Khan. Since the ball was clipping the leg stump, the third umpire stayed with the umpire’s call of not out.
Dhananjaya smashed two successive boundaries off Mujeeb’s last over to bring the equation down to three runs from thirteen deliveries before Rajapaksa was dismissed off the last delivery of the over.
Rajapaksa tried to steer it backwards of square on off-side but the ball bounced off his glove and went on to lob up off the keeper’s arms before being pouched by Gurbaz.
Dhananjaya finished the game with a boundary over extra cover off Fazalhaq, bringing up a dominating 6-wicket win for the Sri Lankans. Afghanistan’s bowling couldn’t defend a below-par score and was knocked out of the T20 World Cup.
Wanindu Hasaranga was adjudged the Player of the Match for his excellent bowling and brilliant fielding, which were crucial in helping Sri Lanka clinch the must-win game.
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